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msconductAs is probably obvious by now, I'm an animal person. So a boat tour looking at the seabirds of Stewart Island was a no-brainer.
People who live in penguinless places often think you can only find them in Antarctica. Not so! They're all over the place. As well as Antarctica, I've seen them in Australia and South Africa, and they're so common in southern New Zealand that someone I knew who went to Otago University in the deep south had them living under her house. (Not recommended: they smell beyond terrible. I can't look at my Antarctica photos without smelling THAT SMELL.) Stewart Island is home to the yellow-eyed penguin:
Southern New Zealand is also home to several albatross species. If you visit Dunedin you can see the royal albatross with its 3-metre (10 foot) wingspan, and you should, because they're magnificent. Stewart Island has the smaller but no less lovely mollymawk:
And birds weren't our only companions on the trip:
After four fantastic days on Stewart Island, we headed back to the mainland for a brief stop in Invercargill to pick up a rental car and see the sights. It's one of the southernmost cities in the world, and to be honest, a bit of a joke to Kiwis. Some of that's because although it sits in the vicinity of some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, in itself it's undeniably a bit ugly. But there are upsides. New Zealanders are obsessed by both coffee and cafes, and even in the deep south the cafe game is unimpeachable. This was our lunch, featuring the local blue cod and served in typical South Island portion sizes:
Invercargill also has a really gorgeous rose garden. I've never been able to photograph those in a way that makes them look like anything but some stumpy bushes with dots of colour on them, so you'll have to mentally multiply these to get the idea:
And there's more! Invercargill is also the home of someone I've wanted to meet for quite some time: Henry.
He might look like an unassuming little lizard, but he's a lot more interesting than that. He's not a lizard, he's a tuatara, a species that goes back well over 220 million years to the time of the first dinosaurs. Unlike lizards, tuatara are active at low temperatures, and they live a long time. Henry's about 120. I was absolutely thrilled to see him and had to be forcibly dragged away from his enclosure.
And that was all the time we had for Invercargill, as we had to head away up to the coast to Te Anau. I thought it was actually quite nice. Invercargill: Not Nearly As Bad As You Thought. The tourist board can have that one for free.
People who live in penguinless places often think you can only find them in Antarctica. Not so! They're all over the place. As well as Antarctica, I've seen them in Australia and South Africa, and they're so common in southern New Zealand that someone I knew who went to Otago University in the deep south had them living under her house. (Not recommended: they smell beyond terrible. I can't look at my Antarctica photos without smelling THAT SMELL.) Stewart Island is home to the yellow-eyed penguin:
Southern New Zealand is also home to several albatross species. If you visit Dunedin you can see the royal albatross with its 3-metre (10 foot) wingspan, and you should, because they're magnificent. Stewart Island has the smaller but no less lovely mollymawk:
And birds weren't our only companions on the trip:
After four fantastic days on Stewart Island, we headed back to the mainland for a brief stop in Invercargill to pick up a rental car and see the sights. It's one of the southernmost cities in the world, and to be honest, a bit of a joke to Kiwis. Some of that's because although it sits in the vicinity of some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, in itself it's undeniably a bit ugly. But there are upsides. New Zealanders are obsessed by both coffee and cafes, and even in the deep south the cafe game is unimpeachable. This was our lunch, featuring the local blue cod and served in typical South Island portion sizes:
Invercargill also has a really gorgeous rose garden. I've never been able to photograph those in a way that makes them look like anything but some stumpy bushes with dots of colour on them, so you'll have to mentally multiply these to get the idea:
And there's more! Invercargill is also the home of someone I've wanted to meet for quite some time: Henry.
He might look like an unassuming little lizard, but he's a lot more interesting than that. He's not a lizard, he's a tuatara, a species that goes back well over 220 million years to the time of the first dinosaurs. Unlike lizards, tuatara are active at low temperatures, and they live a long time. Henry's about 120. I was absolutely thrilled to see him and had to be forcibly dragged away from his enclosure.
And that was all the time we had for Invercargill, as we had to head away up to the coast to Te Anau. I thought it was actually quite nice. Invercargill: Not Nearly As Bad As You Thought. The tourist board can have that one for free.
